


A Matter of Choice

by Westgate (Harkpad)



Category: Age of Ultron - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Barton Family, Clint Barton's Farm, Cooper needs a hug, Daddyhawk, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-28
Updated: 2015-09-28
Packaged: 2018-04-23 18:46:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4887814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harkpad/pseuds/Westgate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cooper's upset about something, and is using Clint's coping technique of ditching everything and shooting some arrows. When Clint finds him and gets him to talk, it's about the stuff Clint's not really prepped for, like college.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Matter of Choice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JHSC](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JHSC/gifts).



> For a prompt by JHSC, who wanted Clint talking to the kids about college. I hope they like it!

“Lila, where’s your brother?” Clint asked as he set his coffee cup in the dishwasher. “I haven’t seen him all morning.” Clint had vaguely noted that Coop was already out of his bedroom by the time Clint stumbled to the shower around eight, which seemed weird for a teenager on a Saturday morning, but now that he’d showered, had his coffee, answered his email, played two rounds of Mario Kart with Lila and played three hands of Old Maid with Nate and Laura, he wondered where his oldest had gotten to.

“He’s mad, so he’s out back shooting,” Lila answered without looking up from the rainbow-kittens puzzle she and Nate were working diligently on at the kitchen table.

Clint frowned. “He’s mad?”

“Yeah, he was studying on the porch earlier and then he threw his book down and went out back with his bow.”

Clint sighed. “When was that?”

Lila looked up and shrugged. “I dunno.”

“You two gonna be okay here for a bit while I go find him? Mom went to the store.” Clint said as he leaned over and planted a kiss on Nate’s head. Nate swatted at him and giggled.

“Yeah. I got Petey here covered,” Lila replied, tickling Nate in the side.

He stuck his tongue out at his big sister. “Don’t call me that! It’s Nate or Pietro, like it’s _supposed_ to be!”

Clint left them at the table and shook his head at how big they were all getting these days. Nate was six now, and showing signs of being as stubborn as both of his namesakes, if Wanda’s stories were to be believed.

Clint went around the old, dilapidated barn and headed down a worn path of yellow grass to the shooting range he kept up. It was made of four archery stands and one stand ready for gun training when necessary, but he didn’t use guns here at home very often. He was teaching Cooper, now that he was sixteen, but even that was rare.

Cooper and Lila both had permission to use their bows whenever they wanted, though, as long as they kept the little gate shut that led to the small range. Clint stood next to it for a moment to watch Cooper before he announced his presence with the jangle of the bell on the gate.

Cooper was bigger than Clint now, a joke that apparently never got old. He was built like Barney and like Laura’s dad rather than Clint, and Clint actually saw more of his brother in his son than he ever guessed he would. Cooper had dark reddish hair like Barney, was over six feet tall now, like Barney, and even had a bit of Barney’s temper. Now he was standing stiffly, a red baseball cap turned backwards on his head, and holding his bow and his jaw way too tight.

“Loosen your grip a little, kid,” Clint called, and Cooper didn’t even look over at him, but loosened up a little before releasing the arrow. It hit closer to center than any of the ones already stuck in the target. Cooper nocked another arrow.

“Widen your stance just a hair,” Clint said quietly. “Relax the grip again,” he added, and Cooper followed his instructions like he always did when it came to shooting.

Cooper loosed another arrow and it hit even closer to center. He dropped his arms and turned to Clint. “Hey dad.”

Clint hopped over the gate without opening it and went over to the target. He pulled the arrows out and checked their fletching as he headed back to Cooper’s side. “It’s a good day for shooting,” Clint said. “Mind if I join you?”

Cooper looked down at the target in the distance and nodded. “Okay.”

Clint went to the barn and gathered his things, and when he got himself set up, Cooper was retrieving some more arrows. Clint went through his normal warm-up routine and let Cooper work next to him without saying much. It was a cool, fall day, good for shooting, and Clint had learned over the years that a frontal assault rarely worked with his oldest (even though it was the only way to handle Lila). Today it took Cooper about fifteen minutes before he finally leaned his bow against the nearby fence post and sighed heavily.

“You okay, Coop?” Clint asked as he nocked another arrow.

After it thudded into the bulls-eye, Cooper said, “I don’t like school.”

Clint’s stomach clenched. He loved being supportive of his kids, but certain words made him feel out of his depth, and school was one of them. “Yeah?” he asked. “Since when?” Cooper had excelled at school, so much that he’d skipped a grade early on and hadn’t struggled since. He was a junior in high school now, when his age really meant he should be a sophomore. Clint and Laura were pretty careful about checking in with him about it so he didn’t suddenly get overwhelmed, but apparently they’d missed something.

“Since everything became ab –“ he started, and his voice dropped so low that Clint didn’t hear what he said.

“About what?”

Cooper looked away. “College,” he said, and sounded like he was spitting the word out.

“How is everything about it?” Clint said, because he figured he’d deal with the obvious before he dealt with Cooper’s tone.

Cooper sighed dramatically for a sixteen year-old. “Scholarships, grades high enough for class rank, SAT tests coming up and ‘you’d better not do this when you go to college because those teachers won’t put up with it,’” he said, clearly imitating one of his teachers. He reached up and turned his ball cap around on his head and pulled the bill down over his face. “They can’t shut up about it.”

“And?” Clint pressed.

“And it’s a gorgeous day and all I want to do is shoot with my dad but I should be studying for the test next week or doing practice SAT questions or something!”

Clint sucked in a breath. This was way out of his territory, but he wanted to help, so. “I guess saying to ditch all that and shoot with me isn’t the way to deal with this?” He grinned as a smile cracked Cooper’s face for a second before a very teenager-shrug happened instead. Clint sighed. College was an even weirder subject for him. “Cooper, they’re just doing what they think is best for you kids. They want to see you go where you want to go, and they know what it takes to do that.”

“What if I don’t want to go?” Cooper asked, and he met Clint’s gaze with a defiant glare. “Because I don’t.”

“Well, then you’re going to have a very disappointed little sister, and you can be the one to explain it to her,” Clint said with a grin.

“What?”

Clint shrugged. “Well, Lila has already told your mom and I that when you go to college, she’s going to be visiting you all the time and sleeping in your dorm and meeting college kids to hang out with. She apparently has plans.” The amount of teenager Lila already had in her at twelve was a little scary to Clint sometimes.

“Dad,” Cooper said. “I’m serious. I don’t want to go to college. You didn’t go,” he added, and Clint couldn’t help closing his eyes.

He willed his mouth shut against the knee-jerk things he wanted to say, against the words that would do nothing but cause Cooper’s walls to go up.

“I mean,” Cooper said quickly. “Dad.”

Clint opened his eyes and hated the anguish he saw etched across Cooper’s youthful face. He reached out and pulled Cooper into a hug. “It’s okay,” he said into Cooper’s shirt. “It’s still early.”

Cooper pulled back and tugged at his baseball cap again. He looked so young to Clint, with his dark hair sticking out of the edges of the red cap, his green eyes bright and angry. “What do you mean?” he asked sharply.

Clint shrugged and looked at the targets. His still had a few arrows sticking out, and they were casting shadows in the afternoon sun. “Look,” he said. “You’re sixteen. You have two years left. Sure, they’re riding you about staying prepared and being ready, but it doesn’t mean the whole thing’s inevitable. Who knows what two years is gonna bring. It’s early.”

If Clint had learned anything from his work with the Avengers and SHIELD over the years, no matter how ‘semi-retired’ he stayed, it was that you never knew what the next week would bring. It might bring aliens, it might bring robots, it might bring a strange, mood altering drug that was gone in five minutes. Even when he was at home, he saw how quickly things could change every day his kids surprised him with something new.

Clint looked back to Cooper. “I mean, You might as well work as hard as you can and be ready, but I don’t know what you’re going to want then, and really, neither do you.”

“Do you wish you’d gone to college?” Cooper asked, but he didn’t look at Clint. They’d gone a few rounds over the years about Clint’s odd childhood and how he couldn’t understand Cooper’s point of view sometimes. They were both a little wary about this whole subject.

Clint bit his lip and then reached down to pick up an arrow out of Cooper’s quiver. “I wish I’d had the choice,” Clint said.

Cooper was silent, so Clint poked him a little with the arrow tip. He looked up at Clint.

“I just want you to have the choice,” Clint said. “I can’t expect you to understand, but you need to believe me when I tell you that the worst part of when I was your age was feeling like I didn’t have any choices. I _didn’t_ have any.” He took a deep breath and ran a hand down Cooper’s arm. “I just want you to keep your choices open. When it comes time to make the choice about college, it’s yours to make. But please, Coop, keep your options open.”

“Go to school and study and take the stupid SAT test.”

Clint nodded. “And shoot with me when you need a break, or paint a picture with your mom when you need a break, or play dress up with your little brother when you need a break, or explain to Lila why she won’t be spending weekends with you when you’re at college when you need a break. And if you get to next year when we’re talking college more seriously, well, when you and your mom and the guidance counselor at school are talking college, ‘cause I’m not gonna be part of that discussion, then you can decide. Then it’s your choice.”

“You won’t be mad at me if I don’t go to college?” Cooper asked as he pulled the arrow from Clint’s hand and looked up at Clint.

Clint smiled and shook his head. The uncertainty was still there in Cooper’s voice. Maybe it always would be – maybe worrying about what your parents think is another part of childhood Clint just missed out on. “Nope,” he answered. “I’ll just be mad if you don’t have a choice.”

Cooper stared at him for a beat and then nodded. “Okay. Well, I guess I’ve had enough of a break, then. Thanks, dad.” He leaned over and gave Clint a quick hug, and Clint counted himself lucky his teenager was still volunteering hugs to him.

“Anytime, Coop. Study for another hour and then you can take Nate for a ride on the tractor. He’s been bugging me about it all morning.”

“Okay. Keep your elbow up, dad.” He waved to Clint as he headed to the barn to stow his equipment, and Clint picked his own bow back up.

He stepped over to the line and sighted the target and nocked an arrow. It flew true, and he blew a breath out and did it again. An hour later he heard the tractor start and Nate’s delighted laughter echoed from the barn.


End file.
